Gundam Wing: One Step Closer
by Shadow Chaser
Summary: AC 217, Quatre Winner is the head of his corporation and the leader of L4 Colony Cluster. He is also the target of an assassination plot by someone who wants revenge for what he did during the war.
1. Part 1

Gundam Wing: One Step Closer 

By: Shadow Chaser

**Author's Notes:**

            This is based off of my _After War Quadrilogy_ and takes place roughly seven years before the events of "Price of Peace".  **You don't have to have read any of the _After War_ stuff before reading this – it can be a stand-alone fic.**  Neo is 8 years old, Dumas is 2 and Jade hasn't been born yet.  This is mostly Quatre-centric with a few of the Gundam pilots thrown in.  The other G-pilots' kids aren't really going to play major roles in this fic; in fact they might just only have a passing mention or so.

            Re-reading _Blind Target_ and my own little muses' wicked senses of humor inspired this fic.  It might not necessarily follow my _After War_ stuff, but its part of _After War_ because of the various characters mentioned.  _Gundam Wing_ and all associated characters do not belong to me; they belong to VizComics, Bandai, Hajime Yatate, and anyone else I forgot to mention.

**Story:**

Part 1 

**_Started: 12/30/03.  Completed: 12/31/03._**

July 16, AC 217 – 12:32 p.m. 

The explosion tore through the entire building complex, burning anything that stood in its path.  Searing, red-hot flames clawed at the building, consuming it, choking those still barely alive inside with its black fumes.

The pitiful screams of the injured and dying were lost to the roar of the flames as those who were still alive desperately tried to crawl their way out, their way to freedom, their way to save their own decrepit, burnt bodies.  The building that had been housing the annual colony representative meeting on the main L4 colony had gone up in flames.

Fire trucks raced to the scene, but even as they began to extinguish the fire, all who had witnessed the event knew that there was a remote chance of anyone who hadn't gotten out to have survived the building's initial bombing and eventual collapsing.

A huge crowd had gathered behind police barricade, some in the crowd crying, others just numb with shock.  Even the police officers, military police, and fire fighters were astonished at the scene before them, but they tried to hold their astonishment in by going about their professional business and attended to the wounded that had managed to get out, giving them over to paramedics who placed some of the more severely injured ones in ambulances and driving them away to area hospitals.

News crews were all over the scene, trying to get access and barraging everyone with questions.  It wasn't a matter of political diplomacy for them anymore, even they were affected as their own fellow crewmembers and team members were caught in that explosion.  It was out of respect that they tried to get as many interviews as possible and to help the public piece together what had happened and what had gone wrong.

Their main focus was why and how did a bomb of that magnitude get inside the building that was supposed to be heavily guarded and had exclusive access.  Was it betrayal by someone on the inside?  But how could it, if that scenario was so?

Their other focus was the survivors that had gotten out.  So far it was only various security guards closest to the entrance and on the lower levels and just maybe one or two colony representatives identified so far.

Many feared that the rest were dead…and among the dead, L4's own representative and leader, Quatre Raberba Winner.

                                    *                      *                      *

**_1 week ago…July 9, AC 217_**

            "As the head of the Committee of Commerce, Science, and Transportation, I still do not understand why won't you let funds from your company be allotted to others?  Why hold everything, Mr. Winner?" Senator Daemon Hallsfield asked, tapping his fingers together as he adopted a worn, tired look on his face.

            Quatre stood at the head of the podium in the spacious room the committee had booked in Geneva, headquarters of the United Earth Sphere.  He shook his head at Hallsfield's words, knowing the man was positively lying through his teeth, though the others on the committee were probably oblivious to it.  It was the same old battle he had been fighting for the last two decades.

The same battle he had been fighting since he took control of his father's company following the end of the war in AC 195.  Everyone wanted a share of the company and though he would be willing to share the wealth and profit, as he had no need for the money, he knew that those who leapt at the chance were conniving bastards.

Those that wanted a piece of the Winner Corporation wanted to raise the tariffs on mineral shipments, making it a precious commodity to the colonies who needed the minerals to repair and to create some small mobile suits to aid in their internal police forces.  It wasn't also the tariffs that concerned Quatre.  It was the fact that they were all power-hungry and Winner Corporation was the sole company in the business of extracting raw material because no one wanted to compete with them – after all, he had set reasonable prices and even gave away some mineral shipments for free, much to the anger of the Committee though.

Oh there had been attempts to usurp Winner control on mining operations, but none of the buyers wanted the higher prices or even lowered ones because they knew of the quality that Quatre pride his company to give to customers.  His buyers knew that they were getting a reasonable price and amount, even a bit of extra thrown in if they asked him and supplied him with a reasonable reason for the extra.

This was just another day in the political arena for him, fielding Hallsfield's attempts to take control of his own company.  It was tiring and sad really, Quatre reflected, Hallsfield's attempts in the last two decades must account for something – but then again, he knew that the good Senator would probably never give up until he was ousted from his office (which probably wasn't going to be until the sun exploded because of his position in the L1 Cluster), and he admired the Senator for his perseverance – it reminded him of himself in an odd way.

"You don't understand, Senator," Quatre started, placing his hands on the sides of the podium, "the people of the Colonies want reasonable prices.  What you're proposing and what this committee is proposing is an eventual increase.  Yes, it starts out small and the people will probably not notice, but over the projected period of time, the finances to purchase minerals will be a strain on them."

As the head of the Winner Corporation, he was required to attend a few of the committee's meetings as this was where his shipments were being checked and reported, a cheques and balances type of thing.  He briefly wondered if Duo faced the same thing, his comrade the leader of the scavenger group Sweepers.  Pushing the thought of Duo out of his mind, Quatre forced himself to focus – he hadn't seen any of the other pilots for at least two years, save for Christmas cards, there would be time to maybe call a few later, after this meeting was over.

"But we've projected that the colonies will profit in the near future, so to them, these _minimal_," Hallsfield stressed the word 'minimal', "increases in the prices would probably mean nothing at all."

"But you don't know that," Quatre pointed out, "you've only based your calculations on certain colonies, like L1.  What about those of L3?  They've been the poorest colony cluster and yet none of the other committees have tried to help them.  Shouldn't we be the first?"  He added an unmentioned, 'shouldn't we have helped them long ago?'

"Are you implying something about L1?" Hallsfield narrowed his eyes.  All ready in his mid-forties, he was still ruggedly handsome and youngish looking.  Quatre knew Hallsfield's background – he had originally signed up to join OZ and Romefeller in the confusing war fought in AC 195, but then transferred to the political division and began to advocate for his colony cluster on how they should just be focusing on themselves and not be bothered with war.  However, Hallsfield did not condone White Fang's actions…

"I am not implying anything at all," Quatre replied smoothly, trying to ease the tension that had grown in the room.  He knew the stakes of this political cat and mouse game.  After all, this committee did have the power to restrict him, but only by a majority vote – and while Hallsfield was the head of this committee, there were a few allies on Quatre's side, enough so that whenever Hallsfield mentioned anything about having Quatre sell a part of his company to him, there would be some vocal opposition.

"All I am saying is that I do not agree with this proposal of yours.  If however, there is a new resolution to your proposal, I would be interested in looking at it.  Now if you will excuse me, I must be getting back to L4," he bowed his head slightly in apology and stepped down from the podium.

Once the door closed behind him to the committee room, Quatre heaved a sigh of relief.  Hallsfield's attacks to insert himself into Winner Corp. were getting sneakier.  He knew that he would have to watch the Senator carefully, but at least he had the aid and ear of President Kushrenada and Foreign Minister Peacecraft-Yuy.

A smile briefly touched his lips as he thought about Mariemaia and Relena.  The two were a force to be reckoned with in the Senate hall.  Their ideals of peace had been made into reality and now they were fighting with words, not weapons, to keep it.  Quatre was so glad…

But the odd thing was that he rarely saw Heero, if at all.  He figured Heero would be by his wife's side, but he knew that it wasn't to be expected.  He still saw pain in Relena's eyes, even three years since the death of her eldest son.  They all had been shocked…but it seemed both Heero and Relena took it the hardest and it looked like Anihiko Yuy's death drove them apart for a while. Well, each has to grieve in their own way…he thought mostly to himself as he made his way into the hanger bay, nodding a brief greeting to one of his bodyguards.

When it wasn't Rashid or any of the Maganacs keeping an eye on him, he had his own bodyguard – something frivolous in his opinion, but he knew that everyone else would object if he didn't have bodyguards to protect him.  It was true in a way…he had too many attempts on his life since inheriting his father's company…it was just that he now had to be confined to the public eye and rarely got a chance at his private one.

At least his wife understood…and he hoped his children too.  His oldest, Cerelia, didn't really understand, but he hoped that she would when she matured.  He hadn't want his children to grow up distant to their father, much like he was to his, but it was inevitable…

Perhaps he would take a few weeks off and spend some time with his children and wife.  It would be a good thing…

"Are you ready to depart, sir?" the pilot called from the front and Quatre strapped himself into one of the many seats in his private jet.

"Yes.  I want to go home," he replied.  Home was where his wife, daughter, and baby son was.

                                    *                      *                      *

Daemon Hallsfield curled a fist up in anger and frustration.  Damn Quatre Winner!  Damn him and his whole family!  Damn everything that he stood for!  Damn his kindness and generosity!  There was profit to be made in mining and shipping materials to the Colonies and Earth and what does that fool do?  Go and give stuff for free!

Of course it was Winner's philanthropic nature to do so, but that could only get you so far, Hallsfield reasoned to himself, but that damn fool didn't know when to see profit and when not to.  He was just to full of himself and his high and mighty ideals of everlasting peace.

Peace…ha!  Winner was a fool if he could think to uphold Peacecraft's ideals of pacifism and peace.  It was widely known that Winner was the Gundam pilot of the L4 cluster, but it was also kept hush-hush, something that wasn't discussed.  Even if someone mentioned it in the Senate, they would all just regard Winner's contributions to end the war with his Gundam as brave and heroic.

There was no way for Hallsfield to manipulate that piece of information to his advantage, but that sure as hell didn't tell him to give up on trying.  He just needed some scenario…something…

He wanted Winner Corporation to be in his grasp, for him to manipulate.  That was how the political arena worked.  Those who were rich deserved to be in power and those who were weak fools who gave away money deserved to be crushed.  It was the same everywhere.  The upper-middle class always complained about taxes, but did they complain about the benefits they got from having so much money?  No.

Those who gave away money were just setting themselves up for doom – for a penniless venture when they died.  No, if he could have Winner Corp. under his thumb, it would elevate him to power, perhaps maybe even contend with Mariemaia in the next election or maybe the election after that – he would have to see.

But for now, his problem was Winner.

If he could somehow deflect or maybe even get rid of the annoyance…

An idea began to form quickly in his head…yes…it would be perfect.  With Winner out of the way there was no one that would be able to oppose his decision to take over Winner Corp.  Even with Winner's sisters residing, they were only guardians and Winner did not name an heir to his corporation yet…so…it would be natural for the Committee of Commerce, Science, and Transportation to take it over – to be its new guardian.

It was perfect.

It was explosive.

It was a sure way to take out Quatre Winner without any strings attached to him and for him to waltz right in.

                                    *                      *                      *

**_July 10, AC 217…_**

Quatre awoke to the smell of freshly brewed tea, his favorite, Earl Grey, and opened his eyes to see the artificial sunlight of his colony beaming through the curtains of the room he shared with his wife.  There was no warm body next to him and he knew that Ione had woken up before him and probably made the tea.  He sighed before sitting up and stretching.  He had gotten back late last night and found Ione waiting for him, looking a bit tired after a long day's work.

When she married him, she had taken it upon herself as both a Maganac and his wife to keep the day-to-day running of the company when he was away on trips and so forth.  She had a keen mind and a know-how of dealing with the minor political trivia that always arose – she was also his press secretary and was very effective at her job even though he didn't want her involved that much.  He didn't want her to have the stress he always had, but she was just as stubborn as he was and wouldn't take no for an answer.

That was what he loved about her…she was his bright sunshine and his love and it helped that the two of them had a mental connection to each other, a bond of sorts.  He would know how she felt and she would too if he let her.  He had learned long ago to shield his own emotions and feels and to learn how to block painful emotions when something drastic happened.  He had experienced too much emotional pain from the wars long ago to not build a defense to it.

Getting up, he wrapped a grey robe around him and slipped on his slippers before walking out of their bedroom.  It was his day-off today and he wanted to enjoy it.  Let Iria and the rest of his sisters run the company for today…he just wanted to spend time with his children and wife.

"Good morning," Ione said without turning around, cooking what looked like scrambled eggs.

"Good morning," he replied, going over to her and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before stepping towards the teapot and poured himself a cup of tea.  He inhaled the fresh scent of the real brewed tealeaves that made up the specific blend and sipped it.  He didn't really like bagged teas nor like putting anything in them…it seemed to pollute the pureness of the tea.  The thought reminded him of Wufei who also drank tea without any additives or anything…

"Did Neo go off to school already?" he asked, and noted the frown on Ione's face at their daughter's nickname that he had given her.

"She's not Neo, Quatre, she's Cerelia…I know you regard her as the first of the Winners not born in a test-tube, but…" Ione shook her head and sighed, "I give up…you're too stubborn for your own good."

Quatre smiled at her before kneeling down next to their 2-year-old son, Dumas, who was gripping his spoon and attempting to whack it down into his mushy breakfast that was greenish.  He suspected that it had to be one of those protein things that Ione was into about feeding little children and kind of felt sorry…he heard that those things tasted terrible and apparently, Dumas was thinking the same thing.

"Yuck," Dumas said, waving his spoon around.

"Now, now," Quatre held onto his son's flailing hand, steadying it, "you have to eat it, okay?"

"No," Dumas was already very intelligent for a baby his age, Quatre knew that, but still even with fairly advanced vocabulary for a baby, he still limited his words to one-word sentences and was vehement about them.

"See…Daddy will eat one then you eat one, okay?" he took the spoon from Dumas's hand and scooped a little of the green mush before eating it.

Immediately he regretted it as he tried to keep his face passive and tried to smile through the awful grimace he knew that his face was trying to make, contrary to what his mind was trying to make it do.  It tasted horrible!  He swallowed a bit painfully and felt his eyes water a bit at his attempt to keep a straight face.  "See…" he choked out, "it's good…okay?"

"No," Dumas shook his head, "no good.  Da face…"

Quatre couldn't take it any longer, he stuck the spoon into the mush and ran for the bathroom where he spit out the contents he couldn't swallow.  Gagging slightly he grabbed a cup and filled it with water.  He drained its contents and sloshed it around for a few seconds before spitting it back into the sink.  _Ugh…how in the world…_he wiped his mouth and winced slightly at the remnant bitter taste of the protein baby food Ione had put out…

Gargling a few more times, he finally step back out into the kitchen-dining room of their house, very large house, a part of him amended, and frowned as he saw his wife snickering into the back of her hand while his son was lifting various globs of the green stuff and sniffing at it.

"Ha ha," Quatre let the smile that had been tugging at the corners of his mouth come into full bloom, "very funny Ione."

"Apparently, it's edible to babies, but not to you," Ione pointed to their son who had taken a bite of the green stuff and seemed to be enjoying it.

Quatre only rolled his eyes in exasperation.

                                    *                      *                      *

**_July 11, AC 217…_**

"Has the shipment been confirmed?"

"Yes.  Here's the payment."

"Do you know how big of a dent this will be?"

"Of course.  That's why I ordered it."

"So, what's it for?"

"Getting rid of a very pesky rat."

"I hope to God that you know what you're doing."

"Don't worry, I'm trained.  I know what I'll be doing.  I'll be doing someone a great favor by getting rid of their pesky rat."

                                    *                      *                      *

Major Sally Po resisted the urge to spin her seat around like a little kid on the Preventer shuttle she was piloting.  She hated solo missions…they would always bore her to death at times.  But it was the life she chose since she rejected promotion after promotion…she didn't want a desk job, hell no, she wanted to fly from one colony to another, enforcing the peace.

She wished Wufei was here…he at least could keep her company.  Over the years since they worked together on various Preventer missions, she had come to enjoy his company and became good friends with him.  They had shared stories of their past lives and even though there was nothing romantic between them, she considered him a confidant and a dear, close friend.  He had a way of making her see different perspectives and she had even found out the scholarly side of him.

She knew that he was capable of following Relena's ideal peace, but even so, she did not expect him to be as knowledgeable as Quatre or Relena in the ideals of peace.  He just didn't seem the type; after all, he was always talking about war and justice…

She had taken this solo mission because Wufei was busy helping Trowa out in the Space Force station.  The mission consisted of her investigating into the rumors of perhaps a planned terrorist attack somewhere in the colonies within the next few days.  Most of the time they were just rumors stirred up by someone who wanted to see Preventer jump, but even so, they always took the rumors seriously because who knew what might happen.  She did not want a repeat of the Black Wing Incident that claimed the life of Relena's eldest son three years ago.

Now she was headed back to the headquarters of Preventer, located in Nairobi Base in Africa.  She had already gone over the results of what she could find and though there was the possibility of a terrorist attack, they still did not know where.  Her sources pointed to probably L3, L4, or L1 where discussions were going to be taking place within the week that contained some of the most influential political leaders.

They could've sent out Preventer guards to keep and eye on the locations but that would also alert the people who were planning to attack that they were on to them.  No…they had to find who was going to start the fire and pinpoint the position so the fire could be extinguished quickly without any hassle or fear of the fire starter running underground.

She hoped that they would be able to solve this mystery before someone got hurt.

                                    *                      *                      *

**_July 15, AC 217…_**

Captain Trowa Barton stared at the readout he was given along with two other people in the small situation room; one of many, on the Space Force's recently constructed station.  Preventers had analyzed the data collected over the last four days and came up with this solution – now it was for him, Heero, and Wufei to figure out the last pieces of the puzzle.

Someone really wanted to commit a terrorist attack, that was no doubt, but on who and where?  That was the question.  There were so many important delegates in each of the places mentioned in the readout.  L1, L3, and L4.  So many possibilities…that Trowa didn't rule out a simultaneous attack on all three places – but even that would be near impossible to pull off as resources were scarce.

So which Colony Cluster was it?

"We know that Hallsfield is in L1 along with Zechs and Takehashi and other delegates.  Relena is in L3 discussing the rebuilding process along with Rhanquist, Jung, and Peterson.  Quatre's at L4 with some of the delegates of Hallsfield's committee to discuss shipment.  Supposedly Adrien and Onasi are also going to be there, but their camps haven't said anything," Wufei pointed to the colony clusters on a flat board that showed the various colony clusters at their LaGrange points relative to Earth.

"Relena could be the primary target," Trowa nodded and glanced at Heero who was staring at the board with narrowed eyes.  "Heero?"

"It would seem that way," Heero agreed, "but, L3's been in the media spotlight since the end of Mariemaia's revolution.  They're trying to build up their reputation and it would be feasible for someone to ruin L3's reputation, but I don't think Relena's the target."

"How?" Sally who was standing on the opposite end of the table asked, confused.

"Assassinating Relena at this time and point where she and Mariemaia have the ears of everyone is not the best course of action.  It would throw everyone into chaos and I think whoever is planning this doesn't want chaos.  If the person planning this wanted Relena out of the way, they would do it discreetly and without fuss.  We know that explosives are the main weapons here.  Plus Relena would have the most media coverage on her since she's advocating L3's rebuilding process and helping the citizens there," Trowa explained to Sally.

"Good point…" Sally quieted and stared, "so that leaves us L1 and L4."

"Both Quatre and Hallsfield have been the target of many assassinations over the past two decades," Wufei said blandly and Trowa frowned at him.  He didn't like the fact that his dearest friend was the target so much…and it pained him to see that each time Quatre escaped each assassination attempt that there would be another coming after him.  It wasn't that he didn't want to see him dead, hell no, it was that it dug into him that even with Preventer and Space Force there to protect everyone, there was always someone that managed to get close enough to Quatre to attempt to kill him.

"They would most likely target the Senator and Quatre for different reasons.  Hallsfield controls the most powerful committee in the Senate and Quatre controls Winner Corporation.  Each wield a lot of power," Heero said, crossing his arms across his Preventers uniform, mashing his Commander rank bar against the folds of his arm.

"So that leaves us back at square one…who?  Hallsfield or Quatre?" Sally asked, her voice tinged with frustration.

Silence reigned in the small situation room, save for the occasional beep of a console before Heero spoke up.

"Quatre."

Trowa briefly closed his eyes in response to Heero's guess.  He didn't know for what reason and knew that Heero would explain it in due time, but somehow he knew that it would be Quatre who would be targeted this time around.  He didn't want it to happen…but since they knew about it, there was time to warn him and perhaps prevent disaster.

"What makes you say that?" Sally asked.

"You don't know Hallsfield that well, but he is very cunning.  Its common knowledge that Hallsfield resents Winner Corporation's monopoly on mineral shipments, and so if Quatre were to be attacked and killed, it would throw Winner Corporation into his committee's hands since Quatre has not declared an heir.  However, I do not believe that Hallsfield's the one planning this attack.  He's a man with words like Relena, it has to be an outside source with the same goals – probably a remnant group," Heero explained, "plus, Quatre is a Gundam pilot and there are few that resent his position."

"So…it's settled?" Sally asked.

"Yes," Wufei replied.  "We warn him."

Trowa pressed a few buttons on the side of the board and patched a call through to Quatre's personal communicator.  He waited a few seconds before his answering message came up.  When it allowed him to leave a message he said, "Quatre, it's Trowa.  You've been targeted – watch yourself."

Pressing another button to end the transmission he looked up and nodded to Heero and Wufei.  Heero tilted his head slightly before pressing a few buttons on his side and in a few seconds they heard Duo's cheerful voice.

"Hey.  Long time no speak Heero.  What's up?"

"Duo, we need you to go to L4 right now and find Quatre.  He's been targeted some time this week.  Wufei, Trowa, and I can't go as it will cause some stirs and alert those who targeted him that we're on to him," Heero said and out of the corner of the screen, Trowa saw the former pilot of Deathscythe's expression turn serious.

"Again?  I thought you'd be catching the guys who do this by now," Duo wasn't complaining about them, but he did sound frustrated and a bit annoyed.  Trowa knew that Duo wasn't annoyed at having to warn Quatre, no; Duo was annoyed at those who would try to kill one of their own.  They all had their own shares of assassination attempts, but it was Quatre who was the most targeted of them all, and it was Quatre who always walked headfirst into danger, knowing that he might die.

Quatre their leader and the one that bonded them together to become the closest of friends, Quatre who was so innocent and so pure – if Heero was the 'space heart' as the Arabic man said he was, then he himself was the blood that brought life to the space heart and everyone else.

"We're going to just as soon as we clear up the red tape, but you have to seclude him away from the meeting until we give the okay.  They're having a two-day meeting at L4 so we don't really know when the attacker might strike, but we know that it will be within the next couple of days," Sally interrupted whatever Heero was going to say.

"All right," Duo tipped his ever-present black cap at them, "then I'll see you in a few.  Maxwell out."

The transmission ended and Trowa looked up at the others, catching each of their gazes.  He knew what they were all thinking and what he was thinking, were they early enough to prevent disaster?

"I think those who are stupid enough to attack Quatre don't realize that you Gundam pilots don't go down easily, especially your leaders," Sally said into the silence of the situation room.

Trowa could only hope it was so.  So far, it seemed that luck erred on their side, for the most part, but in the recent years, especially following the Black Wing Incident, luck hasn't been too favorable for them.  He hoped Quatre's luck hadn't run out…

                                    *                      *                      *

**_July 16, AC 217 – 8:01 a.m._**

Quatre searched his desk one last time, shuffling through the papers he needed for today's various conferences.  The first meeting was going to start in half and hour and he was running late.  He usually didn't run late to important meetings, but somehow, this morning when he woke up, he had a sense of something that felt _wrong_.

He had received a brief message from Trowa yesterday that warned him of a possible assassination attempt on him, and while he took his dear friend's message to heart, he knew that he couldn't just skip today and tomorrow's meetings because of some possible attack on him.  No, if he kept doing that, nothing would get done on L4 and in the Winner Corporation.  He needed to show that he didn't fear these threats, however idle and not they were.

"Mr. Winner, your car is here," the knock of one of his bodyguards, said through his office's door and he nodded absently, picking up the last of the papers he needed.

"I'm coming," he replied, stuffing them into a brief case before grabbing his suit's jacket and hastily putting it on before he opened the door, "let's go."

His bodyguards nodded as one and the four of them walked with him at a quickened pace to the car waiting to take him to the conference building in another section of the colony where it was to be held.

                                    *                      *                      *

**_July 16, AC 217 – 10:25 a.m._**

Duo frantically pounded on the door to Quatre's residence, hoping that someone would answer him.  He had just gotten to the colony about a half-hour ago since his shuttle had problems and delayed him.  He would have been there in the late night had the maintenance been faster and the shuttle did not have problems, but now…he hoped that he wasn't too late to warn his buddy.

As soon as he had gotten the message from Heero he packed some spare clothes and whatever into a small knapsack and said hasty goodbyes to his wife Hilde and their twin children, Tarrant and Reyna.  The kids weren't happy that daddy had to go away so suddenly and Reyna put up a big fuss about it, crying about how daddy had to go away so many times that maybe daddy didn't like them.

That delayed Duo for a few minutes as he tried to calm down his youngest and gave at least a hundred reassurances to Tarrant and Reyna, Reyna especially that daddy was going to come home soon.

He pounded the door a few more times before he heard someone hastily unlocking it.  He had gotten through the security guards Quatre had only because they recognized him and didn't require him to have an I.D.

"Duo?!" was Ione's shocked greeting and Duo grinned briefly at her before he poked his head in and looked around.  There was no sign of Quatre anywhere.

"Ione, where's Quatre?  I need to talk to him, it's really urgent," he hoped the Arabic pilot hadn't gone anywhere.

"He's in meetings all day today and tomorrow, he won't get back until late," Ione's words sank his stomach and he resisted the urge to pound something, "is there something wrong?"

"Did he mention anything to you yesterday?  Anything at all?" he asked, hoping at least that Quatre did tell something to his wife and she, as a Maganac, assigned hordes of bodyguards to him.

"No…but he was quiet…Duo, is there something wrong?  Has something happened to Quatre?" her voice wasn't that of a frantic wife, but of a soldier, the Maganac aspect of her coming out to protect her 'Master Quatre' so to speak.  That was one quality Duo admired about her and knew that to be the same from the rest of the G-pilots…

"No…but something might," he muttered underneath his breath before he stared at Ione, "listen, Quatre might be in danger.  Supposedly someone is going to try to kill him in the next two days.  I need you to tell me where he's gone so I can find him.  Heero and the others want him underground until they can get Preventers in here quietly and find the one who want to kill him."

Instead of the typical widening of eyes coming from a frantic wife as Duo would have expected, Ione's narrowed to slits and her blue eyes glittered dangerously, "Quatre's at the Committee Hall at least 15 miles away from here.  I should come with you."  Her statement said that she wouldn't take no for an answer and no matter what Duo said, she would go and protect her husband.

"You can't," Duo replied, trying hard to stare down the Maganac, "your kids-"

"They will be fine.  Dumas can stay with one of my friends-"

"Ione," Duo said in a firm tone, "things might get a bit hairy and if that is so, do you want your children to be both father and motherless if something goes wrong?"  He hoped to Shinigami to spare Quatre from his wrath.

"They will learn that their parents have gone to Allah if we both should die and they will understand," Ione was set in her ways and Duo gritted his teeth in annoyance.  If there was one thing wrong in this world was the fact that the Maganacs were too stubborn and too damn fanatical for their own good.

"No they won't," Duo said, "you saw what happened to Heero's kids…I don't think they understood when their brother died."

His words seemed to finally have their effect on Ione and she frowned.  He continued, hoping to persuade her to stay safe and not go after Quatre.  "I'll go after Quatre.  Besides, if any, a Gundam pilot knows how to protect his own.  Besides, I don't think Quatre would like it if you went after him – that's why he kept quiet."  It was a lie, he knew that, but he didn't really know if it was the truth either.

Ione seemed to consider his words before she sighed softly, "All right Duo…you win this round.  I'll stay and look after the children, but please, please give me a message to say that Quatre is safe.  I don't want to worry after him if anything should go wrong."

"I will," Duo said before he dashed off to the motorcycle he kept in the small Sweepers base on L4.  He glanced at his watch noticed that it was nearly 11 a.m.  Considering traffic and everything, Duo hoped that he wasn't too late.  So far he hadn't hear anything about an explosion, but he'll be damned if he got to the building only to find it in ruins and rubble.

                                    *                      *                      *

**_July 16, AC 217 – 12:00 p.m._**

Quatre was hungry, but not so much as the caterers had provided everyone with an adequate brunch so no one felt the need to break just yet.  Besides, they were in the heat of the discussion, talking about the finances and assets that were for the coming year and future projections.

Up on the 6th floor of the 30-story building, they had an exclusive access to this floor and security guards were posted at each corner to prevent anyone who didn't have access to get in.  Reporters were told to stay confined to the 6th floor lobby and he could only guess what they were going to be asking the eight other men and women in the room with him about.

Right now Olesia Terrence, one of the many representatives of the Mars Terraforming Project was finishing up her report about how the fledgling colony was faring and how their materials had been dwindled recently.  Quatre had made a note to himself to speak with Olesia after the two-day meetings were concluded.  It was Winner Corp. that partially funded and shipped materials for the Mars colony, right now still only a scientific research colony, and so he would have to find out why the people under him were slacking in their duties.

"I think we would all do for a break, am I correct?" Graham Mouri, the moderator of the meeting announced as Olesia sat back down in her seat.

Everyone vocalized their agreement and the half-Japanese man banged a small gavel on the table, "We will reconvene in 45 minutes."

Quatre pushed himself from the seat and briefly tightened his leg muscles to stretch them before he made his way over to talk to some of the other members in this meeting.  There was so much to discuss…

                                    *                      *                      *

**_July 16, AC 217 – 12:20 a.m._**

_Only 15 miles away…just only freaking 15 miles away!_ Duo resisted the urge to ride over everyone's car – he was in enough trouble already for speeding on a pedestrian sidewalk trying to get to the building Quatre was in.  Traffic was horrendous to the downtown area and his little stunt on the sidewalk was rewarded with a police officer pulling him over and giving him a ticket.

Long ago, he would have just buzzed the police officer and sped off in a cloud of dust, but that was long ago.  He was now more…'respectable' so to speak and though he still would have like to have blown off the police officer, he knew that it would spell more trouble for him and become fodder for the tabloids since he was a known face – "Duo Maxwell, disobeying the law."  Yeah, that would be a great headline for his fellow Sweepers comrades to read about.

He glanced briefly at his watch.  So far Heero nor the others gave him word on when the bomb was supposed to go off, but a sixth sense told him that it was probably soon, if not earlier.  Traffic was the best time to set off an explosion.  It would garner so much media attention and would decimate the public's resolve.  Long ago, when he was still the pilot of the Deathscythe trying to fight OZ and using terrorist techniques, it was something he would have done…

The 30-story building was a dwarf compared the others in the downtown area and Duo could barely see the top of it peaking out from under others.  He was close…  Suddenly he saw an opening in the traffic and gunned the throttle to his motorcycle.  The bike roared forward and he leaned this way and that much to the agitation of other traffickers.

"You asshole!" he heard a taxi driver shout, but only gave him the birdie as a reply before he continued on his mini-warpath.

He skidded to a stop in front of the building a few minutes later and looked up just in time to see the first three floors explode in a ball of fire, shrapnel.  "QUATRE!" Duo screamed.

                                    *                      *                      *

**_July 16, AC 217 – 12:29 a.m._**

Quatre was in the midst of going down the stairs when he thought he heard someone call his name.  It sounded like a warning and something didn't sit right with him…something was wrong…but what?

He considered just calling off the meeting right then and there and heeding Trowa's warning…but…then the others might wonder and might think that Winner Corporation doesn't want anything to do with them…

Suddenly, a sense of dread filled him and Quatre knew that it was too late.

The floors below him exploded in their violent array of color.

                                    *                      *                      *

[The explosion tore through the entire building complex, burning anything that stood in its path.  Searing, red-hot flames clawed at the building, consuming it, choking those still barely alive inside with its black fumes.]

"Today, July 16, was a terrible day for the citizens of the L4 Colony Cluster.  An act of terrorism claimed the lives of many and there are those who are still missing.  Among them is Mars Terraforming Project representative Olesia Terrence and L4's own leader Quatre Raberba Winner."

[The pitiful screams of the injured and dying were lost to the roar of the flames as those who were still alive desperately tried to crawl their way out, their way to freedom, their way to save their own decrepit, burnt bodies.  The building that had been housing the annual colony representative meeting on the main L4 colony had gone up in flames.]

"Rescue crews are still digging as we speak and hope to find survivors in this gruesome act of terrorism.  The Senate has convened in Geneva to discuss the current situation and both the Mars Colony and Winner Corporation refuse to comment."

"Shut it off," Sally growled at no one in particular but someone complied with her order and the vid-screen was turned off.  She turned to look at the impassive faces of the three former Gundam pilots.  Heero always wore his stoic look while Wufei was frowning in deep thought.  Trowa however, looked very white and very quiet…very unusual for him even though he was the quietest of all the Gundam pilots.

She could only guess at what thoughts were running through the former Heavyarms' pilot's head.

There had been no word since they sent Duo out to retrieve Quatre and now this happened.  Their own Preventer agents had also been caught in the blast and now…12 hours later, still nothing.

And that worried them a lot.

                                    *                      *                      *

**_End of Part 1.  Part 2 coming soon!_**


	2. Part 2

Gundam Wing: One Step Closer 

By: Shadow Chaser

**Author's Notes:**

            _Gundam Wing_ and all associated characters do not belong to me; they belong to VizComics, Bandai, Hajime Yatate, and anyone else I forgot to mention.  Many thanks to the reviewers and my beta, Algae.  ^_^  Okay, after this, back to writing in "Retaliation."  ^_^  This little idea popped up all on its own and demanded that I write it into a story format.  Yeah, I might also do something about the Black Wing Incident.  Dunno though…

**Story:**

Part 2 

**_Started: 12/31/03.  Completed: 1/2/03._**

_"Today, July 16, was a terrible day for the citizens of the L4 Colony Cluster.  An act of terrorism claimed the lives of many and there are those who are still missing.  Among them is Mars Terraforming Project representative Olesia Terrence and L4's own leader Quatre Raberba Winner."_

He remembered the intensity of the flames, threatening to overwhelm him with their heat, threatening to send him to the black oblivion, but he fought it off.  Right now he was leaning against the cool cement wall in garage or basement he didn't really know, but at least the cool and dampness of the place he was in was refreshing and it made breathing a lot easier.

"Rescue crews are still digging as we speak and hope to find survivors in this gruesome act of terrorism.  The Senate has convened in Geneva to discuss the current situation and both the Mars Colony and Winner Corporation refuse to comment."

"Ya know…you're getting pretty good at playing a dead man.  That's the…third time now?" a voice asked from the entrance to the room he was in and he looked up at the silhouette and smiled faintly.

"Fourth time…Hi Duo," Quatre said in a quiet voice before trying to get up to greet his friend but Duo swiftly crossed the distance between the two of them and stopped his progress.

"Don't, Quatre, you're already injured enough as it is.  Don't move too much," Duo set down whatever he had been carrying in his arms and forced him to sit back down, to which Quatre was grateful.  He reached out and turned down the volume on the portable vid-screen Duo had acquired – news wasn't interesting to him anymore…

"Let me check your injuries," Duo said and Quatre nodded without protest.  He knew that he had sustained at least three fractured ribs and numerous cuts and scrapes.  He also had a concussion that he received when a slab of wall crashed down on top of him in the stairwell he had been in during the explosion.  But otherwise, he was fine…considering the fact that the people around him weren't so fortunate.

As Duo poked and prodded him Quatre let his mind drift off to what had happened…

The explosion occurred just a few floors down from where he was in the stairwell along with a couple of others, all of them deciding that the elevators were taking too long to take them to the ground floor.  His bodyguards had flanked him both front and back.

_He had been thrown against the wall and braced himself there as the whole stairwell shook and creaked.  A few people screamed then came a loud groan of metal breaking…_

_The stairwell crumpled beneath their feet and Quatre fell along with the others.  He landed in a heap of rubble before he was pushed away so violently that he slammed hard against the wall, making his eyes see stars briefly._

_He looked towards the spot where he had landed and saw metal and concrete hit the place where he was before…and where one of his bodyguards now stood.  The man only stared at him for a brief second to confirm he was alive before he himself was buried by the falling ton of debris._

_Quatre could only stare in shock before another rumble shook the ground beneath him and the last thing he saw was a swinging water pipe coming towards his head – then all was black._

_***_

_"Quatre!  Quatre!"_

_That fuzzy voice…where did it come from?  Quatre tried to open his eyes, but all he saw was blurry shapes and a blurry face…_

_"Quatre, come on buddy…wake up!" the voice was insistent and a part of him told him that he knew whom the voice belonged to…_

_"Come on, don't do this to me!"_

_"Duo…?" Quatre finally got his eyes working and he saw Duo's concerned face above his.  It was also then that pain flared all over his body and he winced against the waves that threatened to send him back to oblivion.  No, he had to stay awake…a part of him knew that if he passed out now, then it would be fatal to him._

_"Hey buddy," Duo greeted, a grim smile on his face, "don't move, I'm gonna get you out of here…"_

_***_

"Quatre?" Duo's voice jerked him out of his thoughts and he realized that his friend had finished putting a new dressing on his ribs and was calling to him.

"Sorry," he apologized, as he proceeded to button back up his shirt, or what was left of it, the sleeves mostly in rags.

"Nah, it's okay man," Duo said, sitting back and packing away the rest of the bandages and medical supplies into a small kit he had brought with him, "I was just wondering why you don't want anyone to know you're here and why won't you get professional treatment?"

Quatre finished buttoning his shirt and bowed his head, letting a sad smile flit across his face before he answered.  "Duo…when I received the message from Trowa yesterday I knew something like this was going to happen.  If I tell people that I am still alive, Preventers won't be able to flush those who were responsible out into the open.  If I go to a hospital now, word will get out to those who did this that I am well alive and there will be further attacks."

"But we'll post a heavy guard on you-"

"No," Quatre replied, "you don't understand.  Making it so that I'm still dead will ferret those who did this out into the open.  Preventers will be able to see more clearly who is responsible because those who planned this attack won't really care for what happens to them now.  They accomplished their goals and they won't give a damn about anything else.  If not, then Preventers will be able to at least see who pulled the strings for some organization to plan this attack and will be able to follow the lead to arrest the ones who actually planted and blew the bomb."

"Hmmm," Duo sat back and Quatre looked at him, "I wouldn't have thought it like that…remind me never to get on your bad side…  You know, I still forget you're the master tactician of us all…"

Quatre smile sadly at Duo's statement.  How very wrong his friend was…he didn't want anything to do with tactics or warfare…but even so…the soldier side of him still resisted and sometimes won out.

"But can I at least get a coded message to Heero and the others?  I mean they're probably sick with worry about you.  Can I at least tell your wife that you're alive?" Duo continued and Quatre shook his head.

"No…Ione mustn't know-"

"That's cruelty to your wife."

"She's Maganac, Duo.  She'll understand."

"I still think that's cruelty.  But can I at least contact Heero?"

Quatre thought it over…it would aide Heero and the others in their attempt to find out who was behind this…but…  "It would have to be a very cryptic message that is between us Gundam pilots.  And only to Heero, Trowa, or Wufei – no one else."

"Finally…thank you!" Duo gushed before he grabbed a backpack he had and rummaged through it.  He produced a datapad and began to type crazily on it.  Quatre had to laugh lightly at his friend's antics and even so, he winced at the pain that it caused him.  He was very lucky to survive the blast…and if Duo hadn't found him, he probably would have been dead, he reflected.

Duo had first wanted to take him to a hospital, but Quatre told him to take him here instead – a small out of the way storehouse underneath one of the abandoned complexes near the blast zone.  Quatre knew that no one came here and it would be a safe house for him now until Preventers could clear this up.  He knew that he would have to make his appearance before his company could be brought into the folds of the Committee that Senator Hallsfield headed, but there was time right now for him to recover and figure out what was going on.

"Done," Duo said after a few minutes of typing and handed over the datapad to Quatre who glanced at the message that he had typed out.  He let a smile crawl up his face at Duo's use of words…

"I forgot that you know a lot about code words.  I always thought Trowa was the master of them," he said handing back the datapad.

"Why I am offended," Duo grinned at him, "I'm better than Trowa!"

Quatre laughed but then gasped as pain lanced through him.  He clutched his ribs as the pain passed.

"Quatre?"

"I'm…fine…" he managed to get out before he looked up and saw apology written on his friend's face.  "Don't worry.  It's good to laugh, but not when you have fractured ribs."

"Yeah…" Duo said in a quiet voice, "sorry about that man…"

"I told you, don't worry about it.  Just go get the message to the others," Quatre waved his concerns away and watched as Duo nodded and got up, placing the datapad in the trenchcoat he had acquired from somewhere after they had gotten to the safe house.

"Quatre," Duo suddenly said and he looked up to see his friend staring down at him with concern, "just remember…we're not that young anymore."

"Yeah…" Quatre sighed and nodded.  He knew that by all rights he shouldn't even have survived the explosion, but only a part of him, still the Gundam pilot, was able to get him out of this one.  He wondered how long would his fast reflexes, honed in by the wars when he had been so young, would be able to support his now aging body.  Granted, they were all roughly the same age, in their late thirties, but still…how much more abuse could their bodies take before it quit on them?

"I'll be back in a few," Duo tipped his hat and left, leaving Quatre alone once more in the safe house.

                                    *                      *                      *

Duo glanced to his left and right, his eyes, ears, and all of his senses alert to anyone following him.  The soldier inside of him was still active all these years, except he had only taken a few aspects of his training from the childhood streets of the colonies and what the good Doctor taught him and applied it to running Sweepers.

Now, however, he had to use those skills once more to deliver a message to Heero and the others without being seen by anyone.  He once had the luxury of being able to walk unnoticed in a colony, and still did to a certain extent, but now many knew of his face and name – though he wasn't as popular as say Heero or Quatre, the two being the most prominent in their fields of work.

Duo wrapped the black trench coat he had 'borrowed' from a park bench when a person who was too absorbed in his laptop was working at and now he wore it to hide his identity.  He still had the black cap over his face and was glad at times that the brim was wide and long enough to shade his eyes from others.

To them, he probably looked like a semi-shady character or either that someone who didn't want to be bothered.  Either way, it made people ignore him and whatever he was planning to do.  After all, the rest of the crowds were still focused on the terrorist attack on the building in the middle of the downtown area.

Though he didn't know his way around the main colony of the L4 cluster he had a knack for getting to the places he wanted to get to and right now he was trying to find a communication terminal.  He threaded his way through the alleyways and back streets near the building where Quatre had ordered him to take him to.  If it were up to him he would just contact Ione Winner and tell her that her husband was all right, but it wasn't up to him and he always respected Quatre's wishes – even if some of them did not make sense.  After all, Quatre was the tactician and was always one step ahead of everything – at least that's what he hoped.

Suddenly Duo stopped as he found a terminal that looked to be in use, but probably only for those who had enough money and were lost in this area.  It was decrepit, rundown and dank, but Duo headed over to the terminal and punched a few buttons.

The terminal stayed silent.

Narrowing his eyes, Duo looked around for a quick second before he took out a pocketknife and forced it into a panel next to the terminal.  He wedged the panel open and pulled out a few wires, making a few sparks jump here and there.  Deftly stringing some of the pulled wires together the terminal suddenly jumped to life and he grinned.

He began to tap into the system, digging underneath all the codes the terminal was supposed to mark for messages and whatnot and briefly wondered if he should send the message to all three other pilots or just to one of them…

"No…sending them to Heero, Trowa or Wufei would attract suspicion if someone is able to hack into their systems…" he muttered mostly to himself as he racked his brain to whom else…

The name came naturally to Duo and he gave a lopsided smile as he typed an address to the sender, one address that was rarely used but he knew the person checked most of the time.  It was old, but it was also a good source of information for the person on the receiving end.

As he typed out his message, Duo made sure that he was aware of everything around him.  He knew how important it was to keep Quatre's status a secret…anyone could have been the one to blow the bomb…

"Finished," he whispered as he hit the send button.  He then took the wiring that he had jury-rigged and completely ripped it out of the panel, shutting both the terminal down and making it inaccessible to anyone else.  Stuffing some of the wiring in a pocket of his trench coat he glanced around and saw nothing out of the ordinary before he walked off.  "All right…let's get some food and stuff…"

As Duo Maxwell walked away, a figure stepped out from the shadows and watched the former Deathscythe pilot with narrowed eyes.  "We have confirmation…shall I proceed?" the figure whispered into an earpiece.

"No…follow him.  I want to know where Winner is hiding then report back," another voice in the earpiece replied.

"Roger," the figure whispered before stepping back into the shadows.

                                    *                      *                      *

Sally blinked her eyes open as an insistent beep came from the console she was working at.  She was surprised that she had fallen asleep at her console and when she lifted her head and shoulders up, she glanced over her shoulder and saw that someone had placed a blanket over her to keep her warm.  Touching the blanket briefly, Sally's eyes softened at the thought of whoever did such a nice thing…before the incessant beeping regained her attention.

"All right, all right…" she grumbled as she tapped a few buttons and then blinked in surprise.  There was a new message from her very, very old account…  Quickly tapping a few buttons she accessed her old account, still surprised that someone actually knew this address.  She hadn't used it since a very young Mariemaia tried to conquer Earth with the Barton Foundation troops.

As she clicked on the mail she expected a video image, but all there was, was a text message…

Forgotten flowers bloom in the lands 

Once left alone, now no more.

The single flower from a little girl

Given to those who still have hope.

A tear not shed for those

Who hide behind masks of the disguised.

Swiftly do the courts proceed

To give punishment and free the free.

Long has one who has to hide

But ne'er tell lies.

Finds the truth to the one

In seclusion they wait.

To combat and discover

Why must the eternal question be so?

Who?

Sally wrinkled her brow and read over the poem once more before checking the sender, but found that it was from an unknown source and wasn't listed.  She wondered briefly if it was some kind of joke…and if this poem was in coded words, she didn't understand what the hell it was telling her.

She was about to delete it when footsteps behind her made her turn around and she saw Wufei walking towards her, holding what looked to be two mugs of hot coffee.

"Ah, you're awake," Wufei stated without malice as Sally was once used to hearing from him.  He had changed a lot…she reflected as she nodded then took the hot mug of coffee from him and sipped a bit, letting the rush of caffeine wake her up further.

"Yeah.  It's been, what, 18 hours since and I get this weird mail from out of the blue.  There's not even a sender address," she gestured with a free hand to the message displayed on her screen.

"Hmm…" Wufei leaned a bit closer to look at the message.

"I read it twice and I still-"

"Print a copy out right now and then purge it from your files and back-up files," Wufei interrupted her suddenly in a hard voice and she blinked at him, surprised at his abrasive tone.

"What?"

"Do it now," he said and Sally blinked a few more times before complying.  She watched as Wufei grabbed the printed copy and then looked at her with an expression that said, 'well what are you waiting for? Let's go.'  She turned back to her console and pressed a few buttons, deleting the message and purging her whole system of anything.  After shutting down her station she got up and followed Wufei to the mini-situation room they had been occupying for the last two days.

As she and Wufei entered, both Heero and Trowa looked up from whatever they were working on, well Heero was working on something, Trowa was just watching the news for any updates on the situation.  What had Wufei saw in the message that was all just a garble of nonsense to her?

"Wufei?" Heero asked, coming over to the center where the flat-screen map was still activated.

"Sally, do you still have the small jammer on you?" Wufei didn't answer Heero's question and she nodded.

She always carried her mini-jammer, a thing she had acquired long ago when she had deserted Romefeller and OZ and joined up with various rebel forces.  Her jammer was invaluable as it blocked most communication systems and cameras, including those on the Space Force's station.  She brought it out of her uniform's pocket – as she always carried it with her, you never knew when an important conversation was going to come up – as now.

Setting it down in the middle of the flat-screen she activated it and then glanced at Wufei who stared down at the little machine before giving each of them a passing glance.  He held up the paper with the weird poem—

"Quatre's alive."

Sally felt her jaw drop in utter and complete surprise.

                                    *                      *                      *

"Quatre's alive."

The words Trowa wanted to hear now spoken – after 18 hours of nothing from Duo and now Wufei held a piece of paper that probably said Quatre was alive…a feeling of utter relief filled him and he nodded a bit numbly.  Wufei handed him the paper and Trowa read over the contents – letting a ghost of a smile form on his face at Duo's choice of words.

It had to have come from Duo…only the former Deathscythe Hell pilot would have come up with his trademark phrase inside of this message.

_Forgotten flowers bloom in the lands once left alone, now no more_, it meant that L4 was the target and that Duo was trying to get their attention.  _The single flower from a little girl given to those who still have hope_, was to Heero and the one after that was to him then Wufei.

Then came a part of Duo's trademark that he runs and hides but never lies – _how typical_, a part of his mind told him, but Trowa shushed it up and continued reading.  _Finds the truth to the one, in seclusion they wait_, meant that Duo had found Quatre, but they were in hiding.  The next line was what disturbed him the most.  _To combat and discover why must the eternal question be so?  Who?_

_Combat…_Trowa looked up and stared at the others in the room.  "Duo and Quatre are in hiding, but Quatre's injured, and the ones who blew the building are professionals at what they do, which meant they had military training or at least know guerilla tactics."

"All right then," Heero suddenly spoke up and Trowa looked at him for a brief second before handing him to note to which he scanned quickly before lighting it up with a lighter.  "We should split up and figure out what's happening.  Wufei, you and Sally liaison with the L4 investigators and find everything you can.  Trowa, go to L4 and find Quatre and Duo."

"Wait!  Heero, what are you going to do?" Sally asked.

"Stall Hallsfield from taking over Winner Corporation," Heero said, "we have at most, a week before Relena's influence will dwindle as Hallsfield does control the Committee."

"Roger," Trowa said and his agreement was echoed by both Wufei and Sally.

They had one week to find whoever did this to Quatre before all hell broke loose.

                                    *                      *                      *

**_End of Part 2.  Part 3 coming soon!_**


	3. Part 3

Gundam Wing: One Step Closer 

By: Shadow Chaser

**Author's Notes:**

            _Gundam Wing_ and all associated characters do not belong to me; they belong to VizComics, Bandai, Hajime Yatate, and anyone else I forgot to mention.  Many thanks to the reviewers and my beta, Algae.  ^_^  It was supposed to be a 2-part story, but no, my muses decided to amp up the action and make it a 3-part.  I swear, this is the last part then I'm back to writing "Retaliation".

**Story:**

Part 3 

**_Started: 1/2/04.  Completed: 1/5/04._**

"So Winner's still alive?"

"Unfortunately, sir, yes."

"Do you know how?"

"No, Commander."

"Then I suggest you make sure that it does not happen again.  Preventers is already sending out the investigation crew and guess who's on it."

"…"

"Winner's friends, the Gundam pilots."

"…"

"Yes, yes…it's the 'oh shit' part.  Now, do you job right this time.  I want my revenge against Winner to be complete!"

"Yes sir, Commander Grayson, sir!"

                                    *                      *                      *

"I'll see what I can do Heero," Relena said as the two of them sat in their spacious home, one of two.  This old Victorian-style house was on the outskirts of Geneva, snuggled in the mountains, high enough for them to have a spectacular view of the sprawling peaceful metropolis below, but low enough that they weren't constantly bombarded with snow from the Alps.  Their second home was near the Nairobi Base in Africa.

She had rushed back to Geneva as did the other prominent Senators and representatives, canceling all meetings in wake of the attacks.  The Senate needed to talk about security issues and the possibility of setbacks for Winner Corporation, the Mars Terraforming Project, and anything else that was relevant.

Heero briefly touched her hand, "Thank you."  He knew that long ago he wouldn't have said but some abrasive words to Relena, but now, she was his wife and deserved much better than what he could give her.  It had been 3 years since the death of their eldest son, and they were still recovering, but he knew that it would be a long recovery…and knew that many of the holes in their relationship could never be patched up – not after Anihiko's death or before that.

"It won't be easy, stalling Senator Hallsfield, but I'll do it," Relena sighed quietly and grasped his hand, absently rubbing her fingers over his.  "So you're sure Quatre is alive?"

"Yes," Heero replied.  He had made her promise not to tell a single soul that Quatre was alive and knew that she kept her promises.

"Hallsfield's gaining too much power…he has the support of at least a quarter of the Senators already and I fear that he might have more within the next few years.  Power isn't a good thing, especially since his tactics are more…military inclined than the other Senators know…" Relena trailed off before Heero reached out and took both of her hands into his, stopping her rubbing.  She looked up at him and he met her blue eyes, those same blue eyes he had come to love and see through the power depths they had.

"Be strong, Relena," he said in a firm tone.

"I know…" she replied before silence reigned between them, but Heero welcomed the silence – because it wouldn't last a microsecond in the Senate Hall tomorrow when he went with Relena.

                                    *                      *                      *

"So, you're here to help?" a nasal voice behind Wufei and Sally said and Wufei turned around to see an investigator dressed in a flashy business suit staring at them with the utmost disdain look he could manage.

Wufei hated people like this and it irritated him to no end.  He knew that many of the investigators in the colonies resented Preventers' interference in what they dubbed, "local colony matters", but it was necessary in order for Preventers to catalogue and prevent something like this from happening to others.  He knew that many of the colonists didn't mind Preventers' interference; it was only those who did the investigation that did.

He almost considered telling the man to shut up but Sally beat him to the punch.

"Please show us what you have found so far," she said in her no-nonsense voice, a quality Wufei admired in her.

He knew that he held no romantic feelings for his long-time partner, but he realized that there were times where Sally's attitude towards things were so similar to his that it was refreshing.  In ways, Sally reminded him of his long-dead wife Meiran, but that was the past and this was now – he couldn't keep the ghosts of the past forever.

The investigator narrowed his eyes at them before gesturing for them to follow him.  They ducked under a few yellow caution-tapes and headed into the rubble pile.  Firefighters and rescue crews still swarmed the place, digging to find survivors or even any bodies that weren't burnt or crushed beneath 30-stories of rubble.  Wufei knew that for someone to survive trapped underneath this rubble, after at least 24 hours, it would be a real miracle.

He saw Sally shake her head against the wreckage and briefly wiped away tears that were probably brimming on her eyes before the investigator lead them to a tent set up near the edge of the rubble pile.  He lifted a flap and they stepped in to a mini-communication center.

"This is where most of the information we have gotten reside.  Feel free to look at anything we got.  I send someone to help you go through the material," the man said before stepping back out.  Wufei knew that the man was going to send someone to keep and eye on them and perhaps hider their efforts, but he didn't care – Sally would be able to handle whoever came in.

"I'm going to look at the wreckage, see what you can do at your end," he said before stepping back out.

Briefly surveying the rubble piles, Wufei spotted a part that he was sure the bomb's origin point was and made his way to there.

                                    *                      *                      *

Sally glanced briefly at the flapping of the tent's entrance as Wufei stepped back out before pulling a foldaway chair underneath her and sat down at one of the stations.  She knew that the investigator that had brought them here would be sending one of his lackeys to hinder them in any way – well that wasn't going to happen any time soon.

She quickly brought up some of the data collected and looked through them, committing a few facts she thought important to her memory.  So far, alls he was looking at was just how bodies had been strewn about during the blast and in what radius, compared with what kind of explosive was used.  The investigators were speculating from TNT to nitroglycerine to even beam weaponry.  It was so messy…

She heard the crinkling of the tent flap opening and knew that someone had come to oversee what they were doing.  "I don't need help at the moment, you can go back to whatever you were doing," she said without turning around.

"I'm sorry, Major, that wouldn't be beneficial," the voice was deep and had a hard edge to it that made Sally turn around and she barely stifled a gasp of surprise.

The man standing in front of her looked almost exactly like Heero Yuy except older and there were subtle differences – but if Heero had a twin, this would be the man standing in front of her.  She narrowed her eyes as she sensed something different about the man…something dangerous yet familiar at the same time and it set her on edge.

"Who are you?" she demanded, half-rising out of her seat.

"I'm sure Major Chang might have mentioned me once or twice…" the man stuffed his hands into a beige duster he was wearing, "Ralph Kurt, ma'am."

Ralph Kurt…Kurt…the name sounded familiar until it clicked inside her mind.  Though Preventers had been formed nine-months prior to the Barton Foundation's attempt to take over Earth and her colonies, they hadn't been involved in the incident that featured the "kidnapping" of Relena and the bombing of the delegates that was the first of many assassination attempts on Quatre's life.  A man named Ralph Kurt was the main instigator and go-between for that whole fiasco, but he had turned on the remnant White Fang rebels and instead helped the Gundam pilots.

That was why the name sounded familiar…Wufei had told her of this during one of their missions way back when.

"What are you doing here?" Sally immediately felt very stupid for saying those words, but Ralph only smiled.

"My wife, Chris and I live on this colony now after moving from the L3 area.  When this happened, I knew that I had to do something – especially since it involves the Gundam pilots.  I don't know if Winner's alive and I suspect probably not, but I had to help in the investigation.  This thing is very similar to what we…I…pulled off all those years ago and it's my chance to rectify what I did," Ralph said.

Sally only nodded, seeing that the man was struggling with the internal demons that he had.

"But I am pretty surprised that Trowa's not here…I mean, when I last saw him, he seemed like a close friend to Winner," he took his hands out of his duster.

"He's doing his own investigation with Heero," Sally lied.  As much as she felt she could trust the man in front of her, she knew that even a word that Quatre was alive or anything remotely close to it might spell doom for the former pilot of Sandrock Kai.

"Ah," was all that Ralph said before he gestured to the computers and whatnot in the enclave, "well…Investigator Grayson expects me to hinder you, but I'll hack in for you to get you some of the files he's buried."

"Oh…um…thanks," Sally blinked in surprise before getting up from the seat she had be occupying and Ralph sat in it, glancing at the screen for a second before his hands started to fly over the keyboard.  After a few minutes of just the clicking of the keyboard and various screen patterns on the monitor, Ralph stopped then gestured to his handiwork.

"Enjoy.  Here's some of the reports," he said before getting up from the seat and letting Sally sit back down.  The first thing Sally saw that caught her eye was the security camera pictures.  That was where she would start.

                                    *                      *                      *

Meanwhile in another part of the colony, not too far from where Wufei and Sally were conducting the 'official' Preventers investigation into the bombing of L4, Trowa was slipping silently in and out of the alleyways.  His bangs were pulled back away from his eyes and tied in a small ponytail at the nape of his neck, making him look a bit like Wufei in ways.  He wore a light brown duster over his civilian clothing and for all intents and purposes, Trowa knew that he looked very different at the moment – but that was the general idea.

His face and hair style was one of the most recognizable, and that came with consequences, some good, others bad, it was what made him quit Ringmaster Weaver's circus and join up with the fledgling Space Force all those years ago, though Weaver had said that he was welcomed back to the circus anytime he wanted.  And so that was where his son was now…under the care of his sister Catherine.

Adler was already 10 and had the best of both worlds; at least the best Trowa could do under the circumstances his son was borne in and the situation with him.  He had the care of the circus as his extended family and the care of the military.  Though he tried to visit his son almost every week, he knew that he wasn't ready to be a father, even though it had been 10 years since Adler was borne by his mother…

Trowa's hands, stuffed in the deep pockets of his duster, suddenly clenched at the memory of Adler's mother… He could never forgive her for what she had done to him and to their son.  She had played him badly and then had the gall to drop Adler, only an infant on the doorsteps of the circus, and disappeared without another trace.

He had tried to look up Adler's mother more than once, but stopped himself every single time because even though he wanted to yell at her, in reality…and he would never admit it to anyone, he was afraid.

Afraid of what might happen if Adler was to find out the consequences of his birth…afraid of his son's mother coming back to take him away…afraid of…basically…loosing his only son.

_Focus, Trowa, focus!_ He mentally pulled himself out of the gutter and looked around for any traces of either Quatre or Duo.  He knew that Quatre would always go underground after an assassination attempt and the alleyways were the nearest thing to start from.

Suddenly, the hairs on the back of his neck rose and he tensed slightly before slipping into a small alleyway just as three men, all dressed in black, walked past him without noticing him.  Trowa noticed that they were all carrying at least some heavy firearms and were walking stealthily on a direct path to somewhere.  A nagging sense told him to follow the masked people, but at a discreet distance, and so he did.  They certainly did not look like the usual people out in an alleyway in this part of the town.

                                    *                      *                      *

Quatre glanced at the portable clock that Duo had 'pilfered' from a nearby store and though he disapproved of his friend's 'pilfering' as he had come to call it, he knew that it was a practical thing, as were all the other things Duo had either brought or pilfered.  Stole was what he would have called it.

He had gotten Quatre some comfortable clothing for him to change into, which was a bit hard considering his ribs still ached a bit, even after painkillers, but he could feel them healing very quickly, an aspect all of them as Gundam pilots shared – quick healing abilities (though Heero seemed like the best healer of them all).  It had been a day and half since the bombing and through the portable TV, now hooked up to a small 3-day generator, was still showing that the investigation was continuing, and Winner Corp. refusing Hallsfield the rights to buy the company from them.

Quatre applauded his wife for her courage even though he saw pain in her eyes as she defiantly stood with his sisters against Hallsfield.  Surprisingly, he would have thought President Kushrenada or the other Senators might have to interfere and judge that Ione and the others were unconstitutional and had to give up the company rights, but it looked like the message that Duo sent had been read by Heero and the others, because Relena Peacecraft was on a warpath against Hallsfield – denouncing him as a money-hungry person with little to no care to find out what happened to Quatre Winner and just too eager to take over his company with his Committee privileges.

Those were some of the sharpest words Quatre had heard come from Relena's mouth and he was actually slightly glad that he wasn't in Hallsfield's position otherwise if her words could melt Gundanium, then there would be no mobile suits or weapons left in the universe.

But he knew that Relena would only have maybe a week or less before her warpath would end – it wasn't democratically sound and Relena had her own reputation to precede her as a peaceful negotiator.  Her harsh words would backfire on her if she kept using them on Hallsfield and it would degenerate her power base and eventually tarnish her image in the eyes of the Colonies and Earth.

"Ya know…these protein cubes are actually quite tasty," Duo had brought some food and out of impulse also brought some protein cubes that were the latest rage across L4.  Quatre had tried them a few months ago when Ione brought it for their children to taste, and didn't like the stuff.

He made a face at Duo, "Gah…I don't even know how you stand that stuff."

"Dude, Quatre, you're food is too rich for me.  I like the simple stuff and this stuff's good," Duo laughed, acting like a little kid, not his mid-thirty-year-old self.

Quatre only shrugged in response before staring at the TV, watching as the latest stocks scrolled by.  He made a few mental pointers on a few of the stocks that he wanted to invest in when this whole thing was over…and noted with a faint pleasing interest that Winner Corp. stocks were still steadily rising, a sign that said that even though to the world, he might be dead, people were still confident in his company.  He liked that – it meant that people were independent and not dependent on anything.  They followed their own hearts and wouldn't let anyone control them.

He knew that stocks had a tendency to plummet when something like the bombing happened, but this time, the reaction was a bit different than one would have expected.  As the stock report changed over to sports, Quatre tilted his head at the auto racing statistics.

He himself wasn't interested at all in racing, preferring the quiet life, but his daughter was a rambunctious little 8-year-old.  She absolutely adored auto racing* and constantly professed that she wanted to become a professional racer when she turned 10, the age where kids could start competing in the junior circuit before moving to the professional circuit.  She also wanted to go to the Sahara Desert and train to be a Maganac and pilot mobile suits and all those things…

Quatre liked the fact that his daughter had a big imagination, but he didn't like the fact that Ione was always encouraging her and even promised her to take her to the Maganac base for a year on her 13th birthday.  He didn't want his daughter to grow up in a battlefield or anything remotely close to it.  It was peaceful now, there were no Gundams, no wars, no rebellion – and he didn't want her to grow up like he did, half-sheltered, half-naïve, but full of passion to fight for the independence of the colonies.

But even though, he reflected, his daughter did have a quiet, meek, side to her.  She also loved playing the piano, and with fatherly pride and a bit of smugness, was a prodigy at it.

He briefly wondered what his little Cerelia, or as he affectionately called her, Neo, was doing at the moment.  A quick glance at the clock told him it was afternoon…so she must be back from her tutoring and probably perched up on the little island in their kitchen, eating an afternoon snack while telling her little brother Dumas to stop playing with his food.

Their housekeeper, a nice old lady by the name of Georgia, would probably tell Neo to stop picking on her brother and go do her homework…

Even away from his family for such a short amount of time, Quatre already missed them.  But he knew that he had to keep in hiding until his friends could find out who was the one that planted the bomb and blew it and the one to pull the strings of the terrorist.

"Oi, hey Quatre!  Quatre!" Duo's insistent voice broke through his thoughts and Quatre blinked then turned his head just in time to catch a face full of a plastic packaged meal lobbed at him.

He glared at his friend before opening the package, the meal inside, instantly hot enough to eat.  Poking at the contents with a plastic fork, he dug in, chewing what was supposed to be chicken.  He glanced at Duo and saw the other man sniff his package suspiciously then did an elaborate check of his food before opening it and taking a bite out of the stuff in there.

Quatre laughed softly to himself.  He knew that Duo was exaggerating things for him to get a laugh out of him and he appreciated that.  He took a few more bites of the packaged meal before a sudden clatter made him look up and see Duo drop his food package and fork.

"Duo wha-"

"Shh," Duo hissed at him, drawing out a gun to which he threw at him and Quatre caught it.  He glanced at the gun in his hands before he looked up and saw Duo drawing out another gun, his eyes wary, his posture tense.

"Someone's here, Quatre," Duo whispered to him and Quatre's eyes widened…someone had found their hiding place!  "Damn, I knew there was someone tailing me…" the former Deathscythe Hell pilot muttered.

Quatre put aside his meal and slowly got up, still feeling a bit woozy from the painkillers and the occasional twinge of pain that the medication wasn't able to suppress from his ribs.  He held his gun in his right hand, barrel pointed upwards and glanced at Duo who walked forward slightly towards the door… 

BANG!

The door burst open with gunfire and both Duo and Quatre dove out of the way of the line of fire.  Quatre landed a bit hard and jarred his ribs slightly, but he ignored the pain as he leapt towards a rickety table, one of the spare furnishings in the room, and dove over it, pulling the legs with him to form a shield from the fire.  He heard Duo curse, a bit muffled as apparently the American had taken refuge from the rain of bullets behind a musty, spring-coiled couch.

"We know you're in here Winner!" a voice Quatre didn't recognize shouted above the gunfire and Quatre cradled the gun in his hand tightly.  It was happening all over again…the fighting…the war…

IYou can never run away from it, can you?/I

bThe sudden clarity of the voice startled Quatre and his eyes widened as he suddenly found himself in a world of white.  He turned around slowly before coming face to face with a girl about his height.  She had a slightly boyish cut of blonde hair that framed her sparkling blue eyes…and she looked almost like him…yet almost like Ione at the same time…

He tried to speak but no sound would come out./b

IYou can never run away from it, can you?/I

bThat question again…Quatre tilted his head slightly in question and the girl giggled slightly behind her hands.  She was just a mere teenager…who was she?/b

IThe war.  You can never run away from it, can you?/I

bQuatre tried to speak once more, but no sound came out.  But how could the girl talk as if there were no restrictions on her while he couldn't even utter a sound?  The girl laughed lightly again, without malice./b

IIt's okay.  This is all in your mind, actually its taking place in a split second, but seems like a long time, isn't it?/I

bQuatre nodded cautiously.  Abruptly the girl's expression turned sad./b

ISo if you can't run away from the war…does it mean that war exist when humanity still do?  No…but-/I

bHer crystal blue eyes caught his blue-green ones./b

I-but…there is always hope.  And sometimes, you have to fight to keep that hope./I

Quatre suddenly found himself staring back at his gun, the grinding sound of bullets a roar in his ears and he realized what had happened.  He realized who the girl was and realized that to protect her, to protect hope, sometimes he had to fight…

His grip tightened on the gun and he suddenly burst up from his hiding place and fired off a few rounds towards their attackers, before ducking back down.  He heard Duo shout a few things before there was a firing of bullets and suddenly a scream came from one of their attackers.

A quick head-check told Quatre that there were three attackers and one of them was down…the other two, they had seen what had befallen their former comrade and instead had retreated to the door, occasionally popping their head in to shoot before ducking back out as Duo shot back at them.

Quatre waited for the stopping of the guns before he popped his head up and shot a few times towards the direction of the door.  Even in the mid-afternoon, the sunlight was still dimmed in the alleyways and seeing was a bit hard.

He ducked back down as bullets impacted the rickety table he was hiding behind.  Small splinters flaked off near Quatre's face and he knew the table couldn't take much more…he would have to find a new hiding spot fast as the bullets were endless.

Suddenly the bullets stopped and Quatre popped his head out just in time to see the two other gunmen drop to the floor…and a lone figure beyond the door holding a still smoking gun.  The figure lowered his gun and walked in.  In the dim light of the alleyway and their portable lamp – well…it was all shot up – Quatre sensed a familiarity about the man that had shot the two gunmen, but he couldn't place where.  He didn't really recognize the man…but that feeling of familiarity was very strong.

"Who are you?" Duo suddenly burst out from his hiding place, gun drawn and ready to fire.

The man held up his hands, gun hanging loosely on his thumb and was blinking in surprise.

The it hit Quatre who the man was and he found himself scrambling from his hiding place and forcing Duo to lower his gun, all while his ribs protested from his sudden movements.  "Don't shoot, Duo, it's Trowa!"

The American did a double take and his gun clattered to the ground while his jaw dropped open, astonished.  "Trowa?!  B-But…y-your…"

"Gel, lots of it," Trowa supplied a bit sarcastically.

"B-But…you…look like Wufei…'cept not Chinese."

Quatre had to admit as he released his hold on Duo's gun that Trowa did look faintly like Wufei with his hair pulled back into a small ponytail at the nape of his neck.  Of all the years he had known his dear friend, he had never seen him pull his hair back…he always thought that even gel was impossible to pull back his bangs…but it looked like he was proved wrong.

"Thanks," Trowa frowned in response.

"So if you're here…Heero's on Earth, that means Wufei is also here?" Quatre asked, barely containing the pain his ribs were screeching about – for a fracture it sure hurt like hell…

Trowa nodded, "Wufei and Sally are heading the official Preventer investigation.  They're bound to dig up something soon.  How's your condition?"

Quatre nodded, "Bearable.  I didn't know fractures hurt a lot…"  He sighed, "By all rights, I should be dead…  All of them are…"

Silence filled the room following his barely whispered statement until Duo sighed loudly, breaking the tension.

"Ahh…we should get you to a different spot.  Know of any others?" Duo asked, poking Quatre gently in the shoulder.

Quatre frowned in memory…there was a spot, but… "I know of one, but we don't have the advantage of confusion to help us, so it's going to be hard to get to the place."

"I guess we can wait a couple more hours as its going to get dark soon then we can move without raising too many possibilities," Trowa suggested before a hacking sound caught their ears and they all turned to see the man Duo had downed coughing, blood spurting from his wounds.

Trowa was the fastest of all of them, and immediately lifted the dying man up by the front of his clothes and pinned against the wall.  "Who are you working for?!" his voice was icy cold, deadly, frozen…

Quatre blinked a bit at the ferocity his friend showed towards the man and started to move towards him to tell him to stop torturing the man when Duo laid a hand on his shoulder, "Let him be, Quatre.  He's got a lot to vent."  The American's voice was serious and Quatre could see a certain gleam in his blue eyes.

He backed down.

                                    *                      *                      *

Trowa glared at the man he was holding up.  He could feel his anger break through so many of his carefully concealed barriers he had steeled himself never to unlock, but he was beyond caring now.  They had tried to kill Quatre one to many times now…they had tried to kill the person he considered a brother.  It had to stop…but a part of him knew that there would be more assassination attempts and that this was just another one in the long endless line.

But still, he wanted to vent his anger that had been building so slowly over the past years.

"Who.  Is.  Behind.  This." He said in precise tones, forcing the man to see into his eyes, to see death and to see no redemption from the hell he was going to go to.

The man coughed and spluttered some blood out of his mouth, "I…w-won't…t-tell."

"You will tell me!" Trowa shoved him further into the wall, making him scream in pain.  "You _will_ tell me or you will tell him!" he pointed to Duo who had a very dark look to his face, making him look every inch the Shinigami he was always professing about.

A part of Trowa knew that Quatre would be disappointed in his and Duo's actions with the man, but then again, Quatre hadn't been on the same level as they had been…he had been trying to keep the peace while they fought to protect it.  No…he couldn't deny that Quatre hadn't fought to keep the peace, it was just that the Arabic man…seemed, sheltered in an odd way.

"P-Please…d-don't…" the man started to blubber, white foam frothing at the corners of his mouth, mixed in with blood that turned it into a pinkish thing.

"Tell me," this time, Trowa let his voice drop the icy tone, and instead made it viper deadly.

The man nodded…broken, dying, defeated…  "All right…all right…  I-I don't know what he…looks like…but his name's Grayson.  H-He…used to be a Commander…"

"Preventer!?  Space Force!?" Trowa demanded.

The man shook his head, "OZ…" he whispered.  "Igerian Grayson…he was OZ…"

Suddenly the man stiffened and a tremor ran through him before he became limp in Trowa's grasp and he knew the man died.  He gently set the man down, closing his half-opened eyelids as a sign of respect and kneeled next to the body, rubbing his forehead.

"Trowa, you okay man?" Duo asked as his footsteps came to rest next to him and Trowa nodded and stood up.  He glanced over to see Quatre with a quiet and reserved look, but his eyes were empty and held nothing, no emotion…just…nothing.

"Quatre?" he called out his friend's name.

"I'm fine…did you find out?" the life returned to his eyes and he gestured to the now dead body.

"Yeah.  Former OZ Commander Igerian Grayson," Trowa replied, "is there a terminal around here?"

"Uh…I managed to destroy the one I found, but I'm sure there's another one here somewhere…" Duo said sheepishly.

                                    *                      *                      *

Grayson was getting worried.  His men had not reported back yet and he wondered what was the hold up.  His men were the best and surely should have dispatched that pesky Winner by now…

He had wanted his revenge against Winner for so long…and now was the perfect opportunity.  He had known that there was a meeting between L4 officials and Winner was going to be a part of that meeting, but what he didn't know were the details and just suddenly, a week ago, he was handed a detailed map and outline of Winner's plans for the meeting – just like that.

Someone had obviously heard of his lust for vengeance against Winner and offered him the perfect opportunity to do it and while he didn't care much for whomever sent it, he had double checked his sources and found the plans to be true.  Either that, whatever hellish gods ruled this universe deemed him worthy to be the one to kill Quatre Raberba Winner and get revenge for what he did on in mid-August**, AC 195.

He had seen the former Gundam pilot-turned Preventer dog Wufei Chang walk into the tent some minutes ago and had not reappeared yet.  He was slightly puzzled as to what was going on – and shouldn't Ralph Kurt's efforts have hindered the two damnable Preventers to be walking out of the tent screaming obscenities by now?

Something was wrong…he could tell.  He spun on his heel and walked quickly towards the tent he had directed Major Po into hours ago, drawing his gun in an indiscreet manner as he did.

He stopped just outside of the tent flap and listened closely to the murmurings inside.  His eyes narrowed as he heard Ralph…so the man was a turncoat after all…  Ralph Kurt he could deal with later…but for now, Preventers was going to lose two Majors…

                                    *                      *                      *

Sally couldn't believe the information she had access to.  All the records logged on here…it pointed to the fact that whoever did this was a professional and was actually part of the investigation team.  That had spurred Sally and Ralph to pour through the files one by one, scrutinizing each personnel that worked on the case for any significant lead.

Nothing turned up, though a few looked very suspicious that Sally knew she had some proof to take some of those people in for questioning later…but so far, nothing significant.

That was, until they came across Investigator Grayson's file.

Igerian Grayson had classified all of his files behind numerous firewalls and protection circuits that all of the alarm bells that Sally carried with her activated immediately.  No sane person in their own mind would classify anything so heavily unless it was black ops or they had something to hide – and since the pass codes and firewalls the man was using did not indicate that they came from the government, Sally assumed the latter choice – Grayson was hiding something.

It had taken her and Ralph over an hour and half to decode the numerous locks on Grayson's file, but once decoded, it was a treasure trove of information.  And…the proof they were looking for.

Igerian Grayson was indeed the man that had bombed the building in an assassination attempt on Quatre's life.  He had the means, the mode, and the money to pull of his kind of stunt.

The details he put in his files…Sally was very surprised that Grayson did not take his money that he earned through a few valuable stock investments and build his own army.  Granted Preventers would immediately detect something like that in an instant, it also meant that Grayson was a very smart man to have kept that much cash hidden and to have brought that many pounds of TNT to blow up the first three floors of the 30-story building without even alerting Preventers.

Wufei had come in and gave them a brief update on his observations from outside and in return got to read over the information she and Ralph uncovered.

"This is the proof we need, did you make a copy?" Wufei asked as he glanced at Ralph.

"Yep, right here," the man replied holding up a disk before putting it inside of his coat pocket.

"Then you can give me the disk, Ralph Kurt," a voice behind them made all three spin around to see a very irate looking Igerian Grayson pointing a gun at them.

                                    *                      *                      *

Duo had wanted to help Quatre, but the blond haired man insisted that he was well enough to walk on his own and so he did, but that didn't put him at ease though.  He watched Quatre like a hawk, keeping an eye on him and making sure the youngest of the five of them didn't collapse from pain or any other injury he might have received that Duo overlooked in the last 48 hours since the blast.

Trowa, meanwhile, was watching the surroundings carefully.  It was near nightfall, at least artificial nightfall on the L4 Colony and they had moved out, quietly slipping through the sleepy alleyways, at least Duo hoped it was sleepy.  At least Quatre was wearing a hooded jacket to cover his whole body and partially hide his face underneath the cowls.

Suddenly there was a clatter of garbage cans being knocked over and a cat yowling before a running figure turned the corner ahead of them and ran straight at them.  The running figure was a man dressed in a business suit and looked like he was holding a gun.  Duo's first instinct was to plaster himself against the wall – it was probably a robbery gone awry…until he saw who was chasing after the business-suited man.

"Stop him!" Sally shouted at them and Duo was immediately spurred into action.  He fired his gun at the man, but surprisingly, the man dodged all of the bullets and returned fire.

Duo had to duck behind a building to avoid the shots and hoped to Shinigami that Quatre had found a place to duck and hide until they stopped whomever Sally, Wufei, and a mysterious guy were chasing.  He peeked out to fire more bullets at the guy who had stopped and was looking around, eyes wild, pointing his piece everywhere, until Trowa's full-body tackle bowled the man over and the clattering of a loose gun was all the incentive Duo needed.

He jumped out of his hiding place, hoping that it was the man's gun, not Trowa's gun that had clattered to the ground and immediately rushed forward.  Fortunately, as he got to Trowa's side, the former pilot of Heavyarms Kai picking himself up with a lithe grace that was cat-like a bit surreal after that full-body tackle, the man was in a dazed mood, and didn't look like he was going to be getting up any time soon.

"Nice…what did you do?" he commented, giving Trowa a quirky smile.

"Pressure points," was the simple answer as Wufei and Sally came up, along with their mysterious friend – to whom Duo nearly had a heart attack as the other man looked exactly like Heero, except older…

"Nice job, Barton," the man commented and Trowa only looked at the man with his unflappable gaze before shrugging.

"Good to see you too, Ralph."

"Who is he?" Quatre's quiet voice said from behind all of them and they all turned to see the former pilot of Sandrock Kai walk up, his hood down now, a tired, withdrawn look on his face.

"Igerian Grayson-" Sally started before a sick kind of laughter came from the man lying on the ground.

"So…still alive, aren't we Winner?" Grayson half coughed, half choked on his own spittle that Duo realized that Trowa had cut half of the man's air supply off when he was talking about pressure points.

Duo could feel Quatre tense a bit before he moved forward and crouched down next to Grayson, looking at him with sad eyes.  Duo was about to move to stop Quatre from getting close to the man before he noticed that Trowa didn't seem concerned nor was Wufei or Ralph Kurt – the man that had originally tried to kill all of them back in AC 196, but instead became an ally.  He shrugged…but still kept a sharp eye on Grayson; if the man so much as twitched…his trigger finger was still on his gun.

"Why…why did you do it?" Quatre asked quietly.

Grayson choked/laughed and wheezed a bit before answering, "You…you don't remember do you?  You…killed my family…"

"I'm sorry…I was naive then…and Operation Meteor-"

"No," Grayson swallowed hard and sucked in a few more breaths, "You killed…them with Wing…Zero."

                                    *                      *                      *

"You killed them with Wing Zero."

Those were the words Quatre never wanted to hear in his whole life, yet part of him expected something like this someday.  He knew that when he had built Wing Zero and started his psychotic rampage across the Colonies, he knew that he had killed many people in the horrid machine before Trowa and Heero were able to get him back under control.

His first target had been one of the Winner Corporation's asteroids, brought and converted by OZ to use.  There had been people in it…people with families, children, friends and co-workers and he had killed them all with a single trigger of the beam rifle on Wing Zero.

He still remembered his whole experience under the Zero System during that period of rage, grief, and psychosis after his father's death.  He still remembered the grief and rage that the Colonies had begun to bare arms and his own Zero System twisted mind turning that thought into a killing machine that wanted to kill anything that produced weapons, anything that armed itself with weapons…anything at all.

And now the sins of his past were catching up to him.  This was a person to whom he owed more than his life to, he owed a family and friends that could never be replaced – and so, ironically, he guessed, it made the attempted assassination of him a reasonable thing.

But still, even if the justification of his own death was to be on Igerian Grayson's hands, then his other transgressions against the other colony representatives, Mars representative, and even Earth's representative could not account for the fact that most of them were dead – and not to mention that many civilians were injured.

"If you want my life, take it," he said, closing his eyes as he heard the gasps of the others.  "But," he opened them again and stared at Grayson without mercy, "you should have only attacked me and not others."  He had an eerie sense of déjà vu as this was very similar to the conversation he had with Ralph Kurt a long time ago, but this time, Quatre knew that Grayson wasn't going to convert to any side, this was personal.

"By attacking others, you cannot justify what you have done to get at me.  Yes, I did kill those on the asteroid and their families probably have death wishes against me, but I try to live for them, to give them a renewed hope when they have none," Quatre said, tapering to a whisper before he asked, "will you let me give you that hope?"

"I don't need any hope from you," Grayson spat, "you do not have the proof…"

"We do now…" Duo's voice was cheerful and Quatre turned around to see the American holding up a tape-recorder, "you just said that you wanted to kill Quatre here…oh boy, the courts are going to have a field day…especially the military tribunal."

"That's only one evidence," Grayson sneered, "I shot up the disk…"

"Slight-of-hand," Ralph suddenly said and produced a disk to which he tapped his fingers on, "sorry Grayson…but I had been working for Preventers long before you came around to recruit me…call me, a deep cover agent, so to speak."

Grayson was turning purple with rage but before the man could even speak, Sally held out her Preventers badge, "Igerian Grayson, you are hereby under arrest for the attempted assassination attempt on Quatre Raberba Winner and the deaths of countless other government officials and civilians.

                                    *                      *                      *

**_18 hours later…_**

Quatre walked through the halls of the Geneva Government Center only with one escort guard.  One would think that after an attempted assassination one would bring a whole mother-load of guards, but no, Quatre felt perfectly fine with one guard – after all, it was Heero Yuy.  Anyone stupid enough to mess with Heero deserved a bullet or a broken appendage.

After Wufei and Sally had hauled Grayson away to the Preventers shuttle to be taken to Earth for questioning and detainment, Trowa, Duo, Ralph and him had made their way back to his residence to which Ione was overjoyed and very relieved to see him alive, and healthy, albeit his fractured ribs and healing bruises.  Neo had squealed in joy and gave him a rather painful hug and Dumas just banged his plastic spoons and such.  Rashid and a couple of the other Maganacs had apparently come over to support Ione and some of Quatre's sisters Iria included, had also come over for a support-session.

He was promptly engulfed in waves of hugs from both parties, so much that he thought that they fractured a few more of his ribs.

Quatre decided later that night when everything had died down a bit that he would go and stop Hallsfield and his money-hungry committee personally – which meant a very secretive trip to Earth as only a handful of people knew that he was alive, the rest of the world and colonies speculated he was dead.

And now, he found himself, 18 hours later, walking to the Senate Hall in the Government Center.  Only one person had been notified in advance of his arrival and that was Relena.  Actually it was quite hard to keep news from Relena, but Quatre didn't mind.

He had met up with Heero when his shuttle landed and the former pilot of Wing Zero told him that he was his escort, which also meant that he had some information relevant to the current situation.

"So?  What is it?" he asked Heero as they made their way towards the Senate Hall, avoiding the stares of the others who had thought him dead, now back alive, healthy and dressed in business suit.

"Hallsfield's the one, but there is no linking evidence," Heero said in a frank manner.  "He's hidden his tracks very well."

"How do you figure?" Quatre asked.

"I was watching the Senators, especially those from Hallsfield's committee during the times the Senate was in session since your 'death' and I noticed that while the others on the committee were very vocal about taking over your company, Hallsfield was not quite vocal as the others.  He seemed vocal to the others Senators and was probably their strongest proponent, but he was hiding something."

Heero shrugged as they stopped at the doors that lead into the massive grand hall that housed the Senate.  "You'll do fine, its not like they haven't spoken to a dead person before."

The joke caught Quatre completely off guard and he gaped at Heero who smiled slightly in return before opening the door.  Quatre stepped through and walked straight to the podium, which was occupied by Relena, making a case for Winner Corp.

"Excuse me," Quatre said in a loud voice, stopping Relena and turning all heads towards him.  He looked around, feeling small in such a big place, but then saw Relena grinning at him and smiled in return.  He turned his head towards the members of the Senate and sought out Hallsfield's face.  The man looked like he was chiseled from stone – no emotion, nothing to suggest that it was him that setup the means to assassinate him.

Quatre focused his gaze at the man, daring him to do anything, while he addressed everyone else, "I believe that there are matters attending to Winner Corporation that needs to be addressed.

"I believe I can rectify those issues."

                                    *                      *                      *

The End 

**End Notes:**

* - auto racing – the type of circuit is based on Formula 1 Auto Racing, a crème la crème high octane racing circuit that tours the whole world.  ^_^  I absolutely follow F1 and have been since I was 8 years old.  I grew up watching Michael Schumacher go from Jordan to Bennetton and now to Ferrari…heh…I digress…  Go Schuey!

** - August AC 195 – I don't know the exact date when Quatre blew up the mineral asteroid at the debut of Wing Zero, but give or take, its nearly mid-series when he does it and so makes it mid-July since the pilots started Operation Meteor on April 7.


End file.
